


Challenge

by Xaveri



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Angst, Dark, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 03:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13449681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xaveri/pseuds/Xaveri
Summary: How far would Edward go for a thrill?





	Challenge

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Magyar available: [Kihívás](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13449792) by [Xaveri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xaveri/pseuds/Xaveri)



_**Challenge by TheCrystal** _

The air smelled of blood. I had left pieces of a deer through out the forest earlier tonight. It was a trick I learned doing… well, you don’t need to know what I was doing. The blood made it harder for the Weres to sniff me out. This werewolf was pretty good, he hadn’t gone after the deer meat. He was intent on catching me. Good. I love it when they fight. I could hear him breaking branches behind me, he wasn’t going to be bothered with trying to sneak up on me. He had probably decided to do me in fast and painless. Mercy’s for the weak. He was four yards back and closing.

He came from my right a moment later, trying to tackle me. He was so fast that he nearly nicked me with his claws. The ability to only change specific parts of his body confirmed how powerful I thought he was. Challenges create true strength. I dove forward and pulled the sawed off shotgun out of my overcoat. It’s rather difficult to run with this particular gun, but the mess it made was reason enough to bring it along. The less body mass I have to drag to a grave the better. I usually liked to give my assignments more of a chance, or “play with them” to quote an old acquaintance. But this guy had called me a fucker in the bar earlier this evening and well, that just isn’t acceptable. I tend to get irritable when I haven’t had a good kill in awhile. It didn’t help him much that someone had paid me well to see him dead.

His body fell with a thump that echoed through the silent wood. I always thought that it was weird how quiet everything gets when I bring Weres out here to hunt. It’s like the animals know what’s going to happen. Ridiculous. I tend to get philosophical after a kill.

I don’t enjoy hunting, that’s not why I bring the Weres I want to kill out here. I do it because I want to be hunted. I put them in an environment where they had the upper hand. Being at a disadvantage made me work for my life, my world revolved around this test of strength. No more shootings from afar, it was too easy. Too cowardly.

I've been Death too long, I need to know fear. I can’t remember what it feels like to kill to survive. I miss the taste of my own fear.

I shake my head and drag the body to a hole. Past experiences had taught me to dig the grave before I killed. It’s amazing how strenuous killing a Were can be.

It doesn’t matter how I began. How I’ll end matters less, although it is safe to assume that I’ll meet my demise at the hands of a short necrophiliac with a bad attitude. What matters is now, and right now I have to hide a body. Then go home, play with my stepchildren, and screw my wife. I have a good life.

The Were had murdered, no, eaten (and yes, there is a huge difference) the only son of a business tycoon. Bad move. The Were had eluded the local police and Daddy wanted revenge at any price. He wanted the best so he asked me. I prefer to find my own jobs, but one million for one dead body. How the hell could I deny a grieving father? I have to think of the children’s future right? College isn’t getting any cheaper.

The drive home was long, but I had my thoughts to keep me company. This Were had been a rogue but had the power and hunting skills of any Ulfric. With all that going for him he was still no challenge. Damn. I’ll have to find something else now.

I had heard a rumor that each of the Council members had a price on their heads. That would be no problem though. Vamps were easy to off once one got the technique down. Besides, from what I had seen of Vamp politics, killing the Council would help most of those blood sucking bastards. Can’t have that now, can we?

Weres were obviously cake now. The secret was to never let them touch you. Not an easy objective, but I had managed and eventually perfected this skill. 

Every now and again a real bad ass creature came out of the wood works. Like that one Anita had helped me with in Albuquerque. To be fair that was her kill, all I had gotten was a few tough humans (tough by human standards humans are easy to kill just stop their heart) with big guns. The sigh I let escape my lips sounded depressed in the nearly silent car. The sound of the tires on the road was soothing, allowing me to think more clearly. 

Anita. The one who could give me the hunt I deserved. That’s right. Deserved. I had saved the world a few times and earned a nice living doing so. I deserved a hunt to match the talent I had developed. God I wanted her. Not sex, though the desire was similar. Anita would never fuck me, nor would I let her. Our relationship was one of boundaries. We always have to stay within the lines. That was a different type of challenge, yet another skill I’d mastered. I could say just the right thing to get the reaction I wanted. Anger was the easiest. Rage gave her power so it came to the surface the fastest. Most other emotions I had to give her time to comprehend what was happening. She was slow to recognize what she was feeling. The other emotions didn’t matter though. 

Her rage was beautiful. She expressed it with pain, blood, and often death. When I saw her run Nikolaos through with that sword it was amazing. She had to overcome the idea that she was killing a Vamp that looked 13. I was like a proud parent on graduation day. I knew she had true potential then.

I wanted her. I wanted her to search for me. To find me. Then she’d make me really fight. Fight for my life. Use all of my talents.

It wasn’t possible. She loved me in her strange way. It was creepy. I’d never been close to someone as dangerous as me. And to know that she would have trouble blowing my head off because she cared was a foreign thought. Oh, she wouldn’t hesitate, but she would feel bad in the morning. Kinda like a one night stand. I would kill her in the end but I must admit, I would miss the fantasies of killing her once I did it. One always needs something to look forward to. 

Anita would have to be pushed if I wanted her to hunt me though. When I said she’s as bad as me I meant it. She was the closest thing to a monster that I’d had a relationship with. She would be pissed if I just started killing people but she wouldn’t come looking for me. She’d assume I had a decent reason. It’s never good to assume. She’d call to hear the story but she would be surprised or more importantly, she wouldn’t be mad. It’d have to be very bad. 

Maybe I could kill one of her sex kittens. That would be enough to set her off. Seeing Jean Claude’s heart in my hands would surely satisfy me… for awhile. This time my sigh was one of pleasure. The Circus of the Damned was a fortress though. It wasn’t an issue of my ability. I had just lost interest in shoot outs. One on one was so much more fulfilling. Two or three on one was nice too, but not a hundred. I could do it with guerilla tactics, that was easy. But watching someone explode was different than ripping their heart out, for obvious reasons. 

Finding the perfect kill to enrage Anita would take some time to figure out. This one kill (it might take more than one) would be almost as important as killing Anita. This would be the first domino. Mess this one up and nothing would happen. It has to be perfect. 

I’d have to put off this train of thought until later. I was home. Time to play with the good little humans.

I walked through the door and smelled chocolate chip cookies. My favorite. 

Donna was the easiest. The silencer was on the pistol before I was in the kitchen. The last expression on her face was one of delight at seeing me. 

Peter was doing homework. He didn’t seem surprised when he saw the gun. Resigning to one’s fate is disgusting. He made it easy for me.

Becca was asleep.

I grabbed a cookie on my way out. 

I had used my homemade bullets. It would make me easy to track. Now all I had to do was wait for her.

**Author's Note:**

> If you know the person who wrote it or you wrote it, let me know. If you want it removed I will be more than happy to do so.


End file.
